âEvery synthesis becomes a new thesis, which becomes the target of a new antithesis.â âThis antithesis found its synthesis in Stoicism, the philosophy of both master and slaveâ¦ and so on.â âIt is also to be noted that the dialectical process is not simply from thesis and antithesis to final synthesis; it is an eternal, open-ended spiral of development.â
By the time of the American Revolution, settlers were exporting 66 million pounds of rice a year. Indigo became South Carolinaâs second most important early crop. Indigo production merged nicely with rice production on many plantations. But when that market dried up, planters shifted to cotton.
Unlike thesubsistence farmers in New England, most farmers inthe Middle Colonies were able to produce a surplusthat they could sell. The rich soil of the regioncrumbled easily under their plows, and the longergrowing season enabled them to bring forth bumpercrops of rye, oats, barley, and potatoes. The mostimportant crop, however, was wheat, which quicklybecame the regionâs main cash crop.